Residents urged to stay home as winter storm creates dangerous road conditions in KC

Officials encouraged residents to stay home and off the roads as snow, strong winds and frigid temperatures created poor road conditions across the Kansas City metro area.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol urged drivers to avoid non-essential travel because of the dangerous conditions created by blowing snow and wind chills.

A highway patrol tracker as of 7:20 a.m. listed many Kansas City roads, including parts of Interstate 435 and Interstate 35, as covered or partially covered, and more snowfall and strong winds are expected.

Several accidents or stalled vehicles have been reported across the metro area, but none so far have caused serious injuries or major roadway closures. According to KC Scout, there have been crashes reported throughout the morning on I-435, I-35 and Interstate 70.

Highway patrol Troop A, which covers various counties including Jackson, Clay, Cass, Platte and Belton, said troopers have responded to 96 calls for service between midnight and 8 a.m. The highway patrol said 52 of those incidents occurred between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Only one person had been injured across all of the incidents.

In Johnson County, a vehicle traveling at a high speed crashed into the back of a sheriff’s office vehicle. The lieutenant was not injured in the incident, but officers encouraged drivers to slow down and stay home if possible because of reduced visibility on the roads.

The KC Streetcar was suspended Thursday afternoon following a third-party vehicle incident near 19th and Main streets. Services resumed after the incident was cleared.

With the low temperatures, road salt isn’t effective, limiting removal efforts to plowing, the city of Independence tweeted. But plows won’t work with the small accumulations of snow, the city said, so they’ll be relying on temperatures to help melt snow and slick spots.

“Unfortunately, that won’t happen until Saturday,” the city wrote.

Anticipating more accidents because of the storm, the Overland Park Police Department enacted its walk-in accident protocol.

Anyone involved in a non-injury accident where their vehicle is still drivable should exchange information such as driver’s name, address, phone numbers, license numbers, insurance, license plate numbers and witness accounts at the scene and bring the accident report to police at a later date.

Police will continue responding to injury accidents where a vehicle is no longer drivable or when drivers are suspected of being under the influence.

For Kansas City residents, you can see if your street has been plowed here.